O UT this week, the debut EP from a progressive metal rocker from Tynedale features brilliant work on the guitar, bass, piano and drums.
And it is crazy to think that all four elements are provided by one man, as the multi-talented multi-instrumentalist Jordan Harris (20) plays every last note on the three track Azimuth.
His talents don’t end there though as, after writing and showcasing his varied musical skills, he even spliced together the sounds and produced the album in his home studio in Halton Shields, near Corbridge!
There seems to be no end to his amazing musicianship, but don’t just take our word for it.
Uploads onto his YouTube channel regularly receive thousands of hits each, with many topping 10,000.
A collaboration with popular Canadian singer Lauren Babic has been viewed more than 80,000 times!
Former Queen Elizabeth High School pupil Jordan is quite clearly a name to watch, and his self-made instrumental CD proves his true class.
He said: “It normally takes me a long time to write a song, and we’re looking at somewhere up to two months from scratch.
“I usually start by messing on the guitar and finding a riff that I am fond of, then comes the bass and drums and we go from there.
“If I’m still ‘feeling it’, I stick with it and then take the elements to the studio and smash it all together!
“The whole EP is just me in my bedroom and snipping it all together, and it’s good doing it that way, as I have full creative control and everything’s down to me.
“I’m in a band where I just focus on guitar, but I love doing it all myself. It can be quite therapeutic as well, zoning out and making something from scratch.
“I have had to use a lot of different skills on the EP and that’s good for me to improve all elements in the process.”
Although Jordan displays good vocal skills, he chose not to sing on any of the tracks, as he finds lyric writing difficult.
But he more than makes up for this through some unbelievable music, the six tracks full of guts and packing plenty of noise.
Most of them wouldn’t be out of place on a high-octaine action blockbuster, particularly EP opener The Marble Mausoleum .
Jordan said: “The EP is a mix and match of brand new songs and three older ones of mine.
“It’s quite a weird writing style throughout because there’s so much going on and it can be hard to keep it all together sometimes!
“On the EP, there is quite a mixture of interesting experimental sounds and heavy songs, and it was a really enjoyable process.”
Jordan seems to take to musical instruments like ducks do to water, becoming a natural when he first picked up a guitar as a seven year old, inspired by his father, Leman.
His love for making music then saw him learn to play the drums and piano aged 13.
His name is really starting to get there via his YouTube channel, which has attracted 600 subscribers, but gets a lot more views on a regular basis.
He was overwhelmed to reach viewing figures passing 10,000, but his most popular post by far was when he teamed up with Lauren Babic.
He said: “There was a song I really liked called Blue Sun by Destiny Potato, and I did an instrumental cover of it.
“When I finished it, and being a fan of Lauren’s, I thought I might as well message her and she did the vocals and sent them back for me to mix.
“It was quite surprising to reach so many viewers, as I didn’t think it would when I was doing the cover, but Lauren’s profile has helped boost my career and fan base.”
The success of the video spurred Jordan on to do more covers, and his metal version of Sean Mendes’ pop hit Stitches attracted 3,000 hits in under two months.
He said: “The success of Stitches really makes me look forward to the future, and for when I put more tracks out there. So it seems to me the ideal time to release an EP.”
As well as performing solo, Jordan is in a progressive metal four piece band called Altostratus, although, ironically, it hasn’t made a lot of progress since the end of last year, as a guitarist has been in New Zealand.
It was again the power of YouTube that saw the 20-year-old head-hunted to join the band, with the collection of four musicians going on to release short album Altitude and play two gigs in Newcastle.
The band is set to recommence once they’re all back together later this year.
Jordan said: “They found out about me through YouTube and they were looking for a guitarist to join the band.
“Because metal is quite technical, they couldn’t find anybody suitable, but they had seen a cover of mine and saw I was from the Newcastle area, so they sent me a message.
“We played at Think Tank? and the Dog and Parrot in Newcastle, and those gigs went really well and a few bands came down to watch and gave positive feedback.”
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